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Archives for July 2012

Some Thoughts on CLAMP

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“And everyone lived happily ever after?”
“Well, no, almost everybody died.”
— David Addison and Agnes DiPesto, Moonlighting

(Spoilers for the ending of xxxHOLIC are within this article)

I’d been going back and forth about what to write for this month’s Manga Moveable Feast. I could always just punt and link to the many prior CLAMP reviews I’ve done – but that would be wrong. So I started pondering titles of theirs that I really enjoyed that I could discuss. Man of Many Faces, CLAMP School Detectives, Card Captor Sakura, Magic Knight Rayearth, Wish, Suki…

Hey wait, aren’t those all over 12 years old? Why don’t I talk about the more recent CLAMP series I’m a huge fan of?

…oh.

Yeah, it’s time to come out and say it. While there’s lots of recent CLAMP stuff I enjoy for a certain character, or a story arc, or maybe an interesting idea to start things off… when it comes to modern CLAMP I always find more problems than I really want to. It’s not even that they used to ‘write happy endings and now they don’t’, as I sometimes whined about on Twitter. RG Veda, Tokyo Babylon and X are not exactly happy fun times. And Kobato is a recent light and fluffy series that really never appealed to me at all.

As CLAMP have matured over the years, they’ve gained a depth to the quality of their storytelling. And while this is normally a thing to applaud, I think with their group it highlights that they come up with fantastic ideas and are not always so good at following through. Their first major epic will likely never be finished, partly due to events beyond their control and disagreements with Kadokawa Shoten, but also I think due to a lack of desire to return to it (let’s face it, I think if they really wanted to, X could be completed, apocalyptic earthquake images or no). Chobits was their attempt to write a seinen manga that also examined the otaku obsession with perfect virgin toys, but it was designed to discomfit as much as entertain, and also had enough fanservice that I felt they were trying to have their cake and eat it too.

Then there is Tsubasa. It has to be said, the main reason why I have so much difficulty with CLAMP in the 00s may be Tsubasa, if only due to its kudzu-like qualities. Tsubasa was CLAMP starting up a ‘star system’ for their characters, similar to Tezuka, where beloved characters we’ve seen before are shown in new and different roles – particularly Card Captor Sakura’s stars. And I quite enjoyed the first few volumes. It ran in Weekly Shonen Magazine, so there was a lot of action and magic, as well as the usual CLAMP BL tease between Fai and Kurogane, the manga’s only two ‘original’ characters. Indeed, seeing Sorata and Arashi as a happy couple (well, as happy as Arashi gets) in one world almost made the entire manga worth it.

But starting from around the second half, where they run into most of the X cast in an AU retelling of that world… epic plotlines that bring together elements from all your worlds are all very well and good, as long as you can keep things understandable and have a simple logic to everything. This became impossible towards the end of Tsubasa. I’ll be honest, I’m still not quite sure what happened, and after about the 4th clone I didn’t really want to go back and read it all again to find out. More to the point, everyone became so MISERABLE. Granted, Kurogane and Syaoran are normally not happy go lucky, but the angst was piled on in a way that felt overdone.

I’d mentioned Tsubasa was kudzu, mostly as I felt it grew to strangle everything it touched. No work felt that touch more than xxxHOLIC. The series were always intended to be lightly connected – the two had occasional crossover chapters when Yuko’s magic was needed – but for a while it was possible to read xxxHOLIC without bothering with Tsubasa at all. And then came the revelations about Watanuki. Now, I am totally biased about this. If I had to pick my favorite post-2000 CLAMP series, xxxHOLIC would win in a walk. And Watanuki is the main reason for this. He’s their best character in years, snarky without being a jerk, angsty without being overdone, and the perfect straight man to Yuko’s shenanigans, Himawari’s cheeriness, and Doumeki’s deadpan style.

And then, right around Volume 13, it becomes impossible to read xxxHOLIC without understanding what’s going on in Tsubasa. Now, this is hardly unique to CLAMP, and is a great way to get people to buy multiple series. The problem is what it does to xxxHOLIC: the plot stops. Seriously, all forward motion for the remaining few volumes simply halts. CLAMP must have been aware of this, they certainly telegraphed it enough. Watanuki ends up not even being able to leave the confines of the shop. Himawari and Doumeki both leave offscreen, Himawari to get married to someone we never see or hear about, and things finally grind to a halt 100 years later, where… everything is still in stasis. If Tsubasa ends with a giant 50-car pileup of plots, xxxHOLIC drifts to the side of the road and fills with carbon monoxide.

Another issue with the way CLAMP’s star systems work is that they continue some of their characters’ stories after the ‘happily ever after’ of their own titles… even if you don’t want them to. Tezuka, at least, never pretended that when you saw Rock in one title and then another, it was the same Rock later in his life. But two of my favorite cute and fuzzy early CLAMP series, Campus Detectives and Man of Many Faces, both have their leads show up in minor roles… in X. Really, CLAMP, really? I went through two volumes of adorable fluff between Akira and Utako (you too will believe in the romance between a 9-year-old and 5-year-old!) only to see them in THIS plot? So I guess they lived happily ever after until their world was consumed in fire, then.

Part of maturity is in seeing that things aren’t just black and white, and that every happily ever after is followed by ‘until they died’, because such is life. And yet this is fiction, not reality. And dammit, I admit it: I liked CLAMP better when they did sugar-candy coated happy endings. They didn’t even have to be shallow: no one is accusing Card Captor Sakura or Rayearth of a lack of drama. But in getting deeper and more complicated, CLAMP has also made things far more convoluted than they needed to be, developed ideas that tended to have unforeseen and unfortunate issues if you really thought about it (hi, Angelic Layer!), and show off a disturbing lack of pacing that may also come from ‘we are famous enough so that we can be serialized whenever we put a few pages together’ (xxxHOLIC, towards the end of its run, sometimes ran for only 8-9 pages per issue).

This is not apparently going to be ending soon. Their new continuation of Legal Drug, now retitled Drug & Drop, apparently has Watanuki popping up, and also crosses with Kobato. CLAMP just likes doing this. Which is fine. I just miss the old, uncomplicated CLAMP, with simple plots in a shoujo vein. Modern CLAMP is fascinating, but that fascination can also turn into a fatal attraction.

Let’s Get Visual: A Tale of Two Series

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MICHELLE: You didn’t think we were going to let a CLAMP MMF go by without devoting a special Let’s Get Visual column to it, did you? (Insert a Hokuto Sumeragi “ho ho ho” laugh here.) It’s an absolute must for a group like CLAMP, whose output is so diverse, not merely in the realms of story and demographic, but also artistically speaking. In fact, I had a pretty tough time choosing which images to talk about today. How about you, MJ?

MJ: Yes, there’s so much to choose from! Though CLAMP is nearly always clearly distinguishable as CLAMP, they manage to do that while also significantly varying their style from series to series, especially when they’re writing for different demographics.

MICHELLE: I wish I had the artistic vocabulary to really thoroughly describe these subtle variations, but I’m afraid I don’t. Still, this diversity inspired MJand I to compare two CLAMP series with different art, but similar stories. Legal Drug has been described as a prototype for xxxHOLiC, as it features a hyper protagonist (Kazahaya) and his more stoic companion (Rikuo) who are asked to perform various odd, supernatural-related jobs by the precognitive manager of a store (Kakei). Kazahaya is quick to proclaim that they’re not friends, but is forced to begrudgingly thank Rikuo for several timely rescues. This is a setup very similar to the initial relationship between Watanuki and Doumeki in xxxHOLiC.

MJ: Personally, I think you could even make an argument for Kakei’s companion Saiga as a weird prototype for Mokona.

MICHELLE: Yeah, I guess he does spend the majority of his time either sleeping or pulling off surprising domestic tasks.

Anyway, how about you start us off with the pages you’ve chosen?

MJ: Sure! I’ve picked out a couple of different scenes from volume twelve, and the reason I chose that volume is that it’s really where Watanuki’s reality starts to fall apart. At first, he’s simply having a series of strange dreams, but by the end of the volume, dreams and reality are melding into each other, one after the other, to the point where it’s impossible for him to tell the difference between them.

(Click on images to enlarge.)

xxxHOLiC, Vol. 12, Pages 30-32 (Del Rey)

The first scene I’ve chosen comes in early in the volume, and it’s very obviously a dream world. The ever-present blossoms in the wind, Yuuko’s train of butterflies, the wind in the air, and even just the sense of space feels entirely like a dream–like something clearly outside our waking reality. It’s beautiful, but it’s expected, and even when there’s a sense of eeriness, it feels friendly and familiar.

xxxHOLiC, Vol. 12, Pages 138-141 (Del Rey)

The second scene, on the other hand, comes in much later, when Watanuki is being shuttled from dream to dream to dream, never knowing if he might finally be awake. The scene starts out simply with the kind of lunch picnic he might have with Himawari any day of the week. The backgrounds are sparse and the panels sort of matter-of-fact. The only hint at first that something might be off, is the hole Watanuki notices in the wall behind Himawari. And even though the scene becomes comedic, with the scaly hand popping out of the hole to steal Watanuki’s sherbet, it feels very sinister to me–not just because Himawari never notices what’s happening, but because it’s intruding on what feels to Watanuki like normal life, letting him know that he’s somehow *still* not awake. Unlike the earlier dream scene, which feels so perfectly dreamlike, this one reads as something more like madness, which is much scarier to me as a reader.

MICHELLE: My first reaction when I saw the scaly hand stealing the sherbet was to deem it “cute” but that’s because it’s been so long since I read xxxHOLiC that I had utterly forgotten the context of this scene. Now that you’ve informed me, I read it as sinister. It’s definitely something that could look like “Watanuki’s everyday life” to the casual reader as much as to Watanuki himself, at first.

MJ: I probably am letting the context influence me, which maybe makes this not the greatest example for a Let’s Get Visual column! But I do think it’s interesting how differently CLAMP treats these two scenes, when they’re both representations of Watanuki’s dream world.

MICHELLE: Oh, I think they’re fine examples! What you’re basically showing here is that in xxxHOLiC, or at least in these scenes, CLAMP draws the supernatural in a way that blends in with the everyday world. It’s a very simple approach, free of some of the bells and whistles that my images from Legal Drug possess.

MJ: Well, let’s take a look at those, then!

Legal Drug, Vol. 2, Pages 40-43 (TOKYOPOP)

MICHELLE: These pages are from a scene in the second volume of Legal Drug. Kazahaya and Rikuo have just rescued a magical kitty, and in gratitude, the kitty has led them to the park where its powers are strongest and transformed into the images of the person each boy wants to see most.

What struck me strongly here is the way the kitty begins to unravel. Seriously, the fact that it’s just one little toe of his little paw really gets to me somehow. Somewhat like xxxHOLiC, there’s that feeling of “You thought things were normal, but really they are not.” As the transformation is underway, we get several reaction shots from the boys (with a bevy of speedlines), resulting in a page layout far busier than xxxHOLiC. The two-page spread is quintessential CLAMP: two slim and lovely ladies with long flowy hair speckled with white ink. The tight panels of the boys’ eyes include more speedlines to help convey their shock.

Honestly, besides the slightly more ornate style here, it’s the speedlines that really convey the biggest tonal difference between these series to me. It’s presumptuous to declare that CLAMP “matured” between the two series, but it really does feel as though they realized they no longer needed to rely on such tricks to convey the protagonist’s feelings. Less is more!

MJ: Well, I think it’s probably worth bringing up the fact that Legal Drug ran in a shoujo magazine, where those kinds of flourishes might have been expected, unlike xxxHolic, which had to fit in to the style of a seinen magazine. I mean, CLAMP is always CLAMP, but there’s always a clear sense of what demographic they’re drawing for–even in two series as similar as these.

MICHELLE: That’s a good point. I certainly don’t mean to disparage the style of Legal Drug or insinuate that it’s inferior, but in terms of personal preference, I simply like the cleaner, restrained style of xxxHOLiC more. I mean, just check out how the panel shapes themselves are different. It’s really neat to compare them!

MJ: Oh, I completely agree! And though I also have a preference for the artwork in xxxHolic, I do appreciate the shoujo flourishes for their classic flair. More and more, I find the differences fascinating, and I was really surprised, actually, at how easy it was to tell which demographic CLAMP was writing for simply by looking at the artwork of their series in preparation for this Feast. I don’t think I expected it to be so obvious.

MICHELLE: I wouldn’t have, either. But going forward I’ll be making a special point to notice how they adapt their style to the magazine!

Clover

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Creator: CLAMP
U.S. publisher: Dark Horse
ISBN: 9781595821966
Released: May 2009
Original release: 1997-1999

Technically, Clover is one of CLAMP’s incomplete works. Originally planned to be at least six volumes, the series prematurely ended at four when the magazine it was being serialized in, Amie, ceased publication. Clover was initially released in Japan between 1997 and 1999. Tokyopop first published the series in English in four volumes between 2001 and 2002 before Dark Horse released a deluxe omnibus edition of Clover, using the same translation but including additional color artwork, in 2009. CLAMP is an all-female creative group that had its beginnings as a dōjinshi circle in the 1980s before emerging as a highly successful professional group. It’s four main members, who are also the members who worked on Clover, include Satsuki Igarashi, Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Nanase Ohkawa. (Ohkawa was primarily responsible for Clover‘s story while Mokona was primarily responsible for its artwork.) Clover happens to be one of my personal favorites of CLAMP’s works. Although there are things about the series that annoy me, I enjoy its futuristic and vaguely dystopic setting and its experimental artwork. I thought the CLAMP Manga Moveable Feast was a great opportunity for me to give the manga a closer look.

After being court-martialed six times, ex-special operative Kazuhiko Fay Ryu is trying to lead a normal civilian life when the government calls him back to duty for one last mission–one that only he can complete. Charged with transporting a strange girl to an undisclosed location, there’s plenty about the mission that Kazuhiko doesn’t know. And what he doesn’t know may very well end up getting him killed. He isn’t even aware of the special connection that she shares with him. Sue, the girl, is a Clover–a child with extraordinary abilities far surpassing those of a normal psychic. Considered both extremely valuable and extremely dangerous, she has been kept alone in captivity by the government for most of her life. All she really wants is a moment of true happiness, no matter how fleeting. But now that the closely guarded secret of her existence is out, both Sue and Kazuhiko are being pursued by well-armed renegade forces who want her power for their own.

The most striking thing about Clover is its artwork. The style itself is similar to those used in other works by CLAMP, but what makes it stand out from other manga (and not just other CLAMP manga) is the group’s use of innovative and unusual panel layouts and page designs. The individual panels tend to focus closely in on a particular element; these fragments are then gathered together as a whole on the page in interesting and varied ways. CLAMP isn’t afraid of overlap or white space and relatively few panels are used on a page, giving the overall presentation of Clover a minimalist feel. CLAMP’s artwork revels in the small details, moments, and movements without becoming overly complicated. Less successful in Clover is CLAMP’s constant use of song lyrics. I can see this being used to good effect in another medium such as film, but it becomes tedious and repetitive in the manga. Eventually, I stopped reading them entirely. I suspect that the overused lyrics worked better in serialization than they do now that the manga has been collected.

The primary story is contained by the first two volumes of Clover. The third and fourth volumes serve as prequels, each going back a little further in time, which delve into the characters’ histories. Although there is still plenty of room for development, and I would love to see what CLAMP had in mind for the rest of Clover, the volumes that currently exist are more or less complete in and of themselves. In tone, Clover tends to be very melancholic bordering on and even crossing over into angst. However the future shown in Clover came to pass, it is not a particularly happy one. Very little is actually known about the world of Clover; many of the details of the setting and of the characters backstories and relationships are only hinted at or implied rather than being explicitly stated. CLAMP provides just enough information for readers to run with and to ignite their imaginations as they speculate on the series’ possibilities. Clover might not be the best of CLAMP’s works, but I think it is one of the most interesting. Even considering its faults, with an engaging setting and fantastic artwork, Clover remains a personal favorite of mine.

Manga Bestsellers: 2012, Week Ending 1 July

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Comparative Rankings Based on Consolidated Online Sales

last week’s charts
about the charts

##

Manga Bestsellers

1. ↑2 (3) : Sailor Moon 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [405.3] ::
2. ↓-1 (1) : Sailor Moon 4 – Kodansha Comics, Mar 2012 [403.5] ::
3. ↓-1 (2) : Sailor Moon 3 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2012 [400.5] ::
4. ↑1 (5) : Ouran High School Host Club 18 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jun 2012 [397.8] ::
5. ↓-1 (4) : Sailor Moon 2 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [383.5] ::
6. ↔0 (6) : Bleach 40 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2012 [346.5] ::
7. ↑1 (8) : Naruto 56 – Viz Shonen Jump, May 2012 [321.2] ::
8. ↓-1 (7) : Black Bird 14 – Viz Shojo Beat, May 2012 [316.8] ::
9. ↑1 (10) : Sailor Moon 5 – Kodansha Comics, Apr 2012 [309.0] ::
10. ↓-1 (9) : Death Note vols 1-13 box set – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Oct 2008 [307.9] ::

[more]

Top Imprints
Number of volumes ranking in the Top 500:

Viz Shonen Jump 80
Yen Press 78
Tokyopop 72
Viz Shojo Beat 59
Kodansha Comics 47
Viz Shonen Jump Advanced 37
Dark Horse 19
DMP Juné 16
Seven Seas 16
Vizkids 13

[more]

Series/Property

1. ↔0 (1) : Sailor Moon – Kodansha Comics [1,083.9] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Naruto – Viz Shonen Jump [800.6] ::
3. ↔0 (3) : Bleach – Viz Shonen Jump [770.3] ::
4. ↔0 (4) : Ouran High School Host Club – Viz Shojo Beat [629.9] ::
5. ↑3 (8) : Negima! – Del Rey/Kodansha Comics [467.2] ::
6. ↑6 (12) : Rosario+Vampire – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced [461.8] ::
7. ↓-2 (5) : Highschool of the Dead – Yen Press [457.0] ::
8. ↓-1 (7) : Black Bird – Viz Shojo Beat [448.5] ::
9. ↓-3 (6) : Death Note – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced [439.1] ::
10. ↔0 (10) : Avatar: The Last Airbender – [multiple publishers] [409.6] ::

[more]

New Releases
(Titles releasing/released This Month & Last)

4. ↑1 (5) : Ouran High School Host Club 18 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jun 2012 [397.8] ::
6. ↔0 (6) : Bleach 40 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2012 [346.5] ::
11. ↑16 (27) : Naruto 57 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2012 [299.9] ::
12. ↑1 (13) : Sailor Moon 6 – Kodansha Comics, Jun 2012 [293.5] ::
14. ↑1 (15) : Bleach 41 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2012 [279.8] ::
17. ↓-5 (12) : Dance in the Vampire Bund 12 – Seven Seas, Jun 2012 [256.1] ::
22. ↑124 (146) : Bleach 42 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2012 [229.2] ::
24. ↑60 (84) : Rosario+Vampire Season II 9 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Jul 2012 [221.9] ::
25. ↓-3 (22) : Finder Series 6 Passion within the View Finder – DMP Juné, Jul 2012 [217.9] ::
27. ↓-1 (26) : Bakuman 11 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2012 [215.4] ::

[more]

Preorders

13. ↓-2 (11) : Sailor Moon 9 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2013 [280.8] ::
16. ↔0 (16) : Sailor Moon 8 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2012 [257.3] ::
18. ↑1 (19) : Sailor Moon 7 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2012 [255.8] ::
35. ↔0 (35) : Avatar: The Last Airbender The Promise 3 – Dark Horse, Oct 2012 [189.0] ::
82. ↓-1 (81) : Only the Ring Finger Knows (novel) 5 – DMP Juné, Sep 2012 [111.3] ::
96. ↑5 (101) : Ai no Kusabi (novel) 7 – DMP Juné, Sep 2012 [99.8] ::
97. ↓-3 (94) : Negima! 36 – Kodansha Comics, Oct 2012 [99.5] ::
123. ↓-8 (115) : Toradora! 5 – Seven Seas, Aug 2012 [85.7] ::
132. (new) : Sailor Moon 10 – Kodansha Comics, Mar 2013 [81.9] ::
134. ↑37 (171) : Bunny Drop 6 – Yen Press, Aug 2012 [81.7] ::

[more]

Manhwa

251. ↓-122 (129) : Bride of the Water God 11 – Dark Horse, May 2012 [48.8] ::
515. ↓-21 (494) : Bride of the Water God 10 – Dark Horse, Jan 2012 [20.6] ::
668. ↓-272 (396) : Bride of the Water God 9 – Dark Horse, Oct 2011 [12.8] ::
843. ↑611 (1454) : Bride of the Water God 8 – Dark Horse, May 2011 [7.2] ::
942. ↑1228 (2170) : Bride of the Water God 5 – Dark Horse, Feb 2010 [5.5] ::
988. ↑173 (1161) : Ragnarok 1 – Tokyopop, May 2002 [4.9] ::
1015. ↑ (last ranked 10 Jun 12) : Jack Frost 5 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [4.6] ::
1018. ↓-111 (907) : Toxic (anthology) 1 – Udon, Jul 2012 [4.6] ::
1021. ↓-206 (815) : Priest Purgatory 1 – Tokyopop, Aug 2010 [4.6] ::
1525. ↓-208 (1317) : Black God 16 – Yen Press, Apr 2012 [0.7] ::

[more]

BL/Yaoi

25. ↓-3 (22) : Finder Series 6 Passion within the View Finder – DMP Juné, Jul 2012 [217.9] ::
78. ↓-1 (77) : Samejima-Kun & Sasahara-Kun – DMP Juné, May 2012 [114.8] ::
82. ↓-1 (81) : Only the Ring Finger Knows (novel) 5 – DMP Juné, Sep 2012 [111.3] ::
96. ↑5 (101) : Ai no Kusabi (novel) 7 – DMP Juné, Sep 2012 [99.8] ::
111. ↓-35 (76) : The Tyrant Falls in Love 6 – DMP Juné, May 2012 [90.9] ::
115. ↑483 (598) : Seven Days Monday-Thursday – DMP Juné, Aug 2010 [88.5] ::
125. ↑39 (164) : In These Words – 801 Media, Jun 2012 [84.8] ::
181. ↓-39 (142) : Silver Diamond 8 – Tokyopop, Dec 2010 [65.0] ::
190. ↓-73 (117) : Private Teacher 3 – DMP Juné, May 2012 [62.1] ::
193. ↓-53 (140) : Vassalord 4 – Tokyopop, Nov 2010 [61.4] ::

[more]

Ebooks

7. ↑1 (8) : Naruto 56 – Viz Shonen Jump, May 2012 [321.2] ::
11. ↑16 (27) : Naruto 57 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2012 [299.9] ::
19. ↓-2 (17) : Naruto 55 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2012 [249.4] ::
20. ↓-2 (18) : Maximum Ride 5 – Yen Press, Dec 2011 [241.9] ::
39. ↓-7 (32) : Naruto 54 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2012 [178.7] ::
48. ↓-3 (45) : Naruto 53 – Viz Shonen Jump, Dec 2011 [157.9] ::
51. ↓-12 (39) : Blue Exorcist 1 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Apr 2011 [149.6] ::
61. ↑19 (80) : Maximum Ride 3 – Yen Press, Aug 2010 [138.3] ::
80. ↓-10 (70) : Bleach 37 – Viz Shonen Jump, Dec 2011 [113.8] ::
81. ↓-10 (71) : Naruto 52 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2011 [111.4] ::

[more]

CLAMP MMF Links: Day 4

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Here is your roundup of links for Day 4 of the CLAMP Manga Moveable Feast!

From your host: In an MMF edition of 3 Things Thursday, I talk about my 3 Favorite CLAMP Women. Who are your favorites? Come share with us in comments!

In her latest edition of The Best Manga You’re Not Reading, Kate Dacey sings the praises of Suki, CLAMP’s three-volume manga about a childlike teenager’s complicated lessons in love at The Manga Critic.

“The brilliant sociopath, the hooker with the heart of gold, and the naïf are my three least favorite character types, the first two for their tiresome ubiquity in popular culture, and the third for being tiresome: when was the last time you read a story about a sweet, innocent person that didn’t make you feel horribly manipulated or horribly jaded? Imagine my surprise, then, at discovering CLAMP’s delightfully odd series Suki: A Like Story, which revolves around a brilliant but impossibly naive teenager who trusts everyone, reads picture books, and talks to teddy bears. I thought I’d be tearing my breast in agony by the end of the first chapter; instead, I quickly succumbed to Suki‘s charms and even suppressed a sniffle or two in the final pages.”

At Poisoned Rationality, Lexie shares her personal history with CLAMP in CLAMP and me.

Two participants took the opportunity to discuss CLAMP’s X yesterday—Ayame at The Beautiful World and Phillip Anthony here at Manga Bookshelf.

At The Manga Report, Anna shares her review of Legal Drug, and at Heart of Manga, Laura looks at Kobato.

That’s all the links for Thursday! Stay tuned as the Feast continues!

To submit your contributions to the CLAMP MMF for inclusion in this month’s archive, please send your links by email to mj@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mjbeasi. If you would like your contribution(s) to be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, please email them to MJ, along with any included images.

Fanservice Friday: The Fujoshi Heart of CLAMP

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Welcome back to Fanservice Friday!

For those of you who may be wandering over from less manga-obsessed corners of the internet, the term “fujoshi” (“rotton girl”) is used in Japan to describe fans of BL or “boys’ love” (also known as “yaoi”) manga, which is to say women and girls who enjoy stories featuring male characters in romantic and/or sexual relationships with each other, created for a female audience, usually by female writers and artists.

You can find a lot of internet speculation (and a few academic studies) regarding why many women and girls like stories about two men falling in love and/or making out (and so forth), but there’s little doubt that they do like them, and that “they” includes me. I’m a romance junkie and, to hear some tell it, perhaps a perv. (Though for what it’s worth, I get the same enjoyment out of stories featuring a man and a woman or two women making out, so I’m at last an equal opportunity perv.)

Anyhow, given that CLAMP spent some time creating yaoi doujinshi (kinda like slash fanfiction, but comics) before they went pro, it’s likely that they may have once considered themselves fujoshi, And whether they ever did or not, that sensibility is certainly present in their professional work, regardless of its intended demographic.

So now that we’ve gotten all that exposition over with, let’s talk about….

The Fujoshi Heart of CLAMP

(click images to enlarge)


Legal Drug, Vol. 3 © 2003 CLAMP, English text © 2005 TOKYOPOP

Scenes such as the one above from Legal Drug fall into a type of female-aimed fanservice pretty common in shoujo (and even shounen) manga these days. I like to call this type of fanservice “the tease.” A scene like this is a tease, because it features two male characters caught in a compromising position that ultimately turns out not to be at all what it seems. In this scene, for instance, Kazahaya and Rikuo are posing as clandestine student lovers to facilitate their investigation of a supernatural event at a secluded all-boys’ school, and Rikuo gets mushy for a moment when he realizes they are being watched. Often, this kind of tease is used for comedic effect, like in these pages from Black Butler, but in this scene, CLAMP avoids going for the easy laugh, keeping the mood heavy to intensify the readers’ already-established interest in these characters as a potential couple (and believe me, there’s interest).

Fortunately, humorous BL fanservice is not CLAMP’s specialty… well, fortunately for me, anyway, as it’s by far my least favorite type—both as shoujo fanservice and in actual BL manga as well. Legal Drug is particularly generous with its BL overtones, and it’s also one of the group’s few series to pull some of those overtones out of the subtext and right into the text. It’s made pretty clear throughout the series’ first three volumes, that shop owner Kakei has something going on with his hulky companion, Saiga.


Legal Drug, Vol. 2 © 2001 CLAMP, English text @2004 TOKYOPOP

Though anything other than come-hither looks and suggestive embraces is kept pretty much off-screen, I’ve read manga published as BL (Wild Adapter, for instance), that treats its relationships more ambiguously.

Another of CLAMP’s shoujo series to contain a canon romance between two male characters is, of course, Cardcaptor Sakura, and though Toya and Yukito’s relationship is even more chaste on-screen than Kakei and Saiga’s, it’s still notable given the young age of Nakayoshi’s core audience. And frankly, you’d have to have a heart of stone not to melt just a little in the presence of romantic sweetness like this.


Cardcaptor Sakura: Master of the Clow, Vol. 4 © 1999 CLAMP, English text © 2004 TOKYOPOP

This kind of pure-hearted devotion is at the core of most of CLAMP’s best romances, even those that remain ambiguous throughout their entire runs, and I admit that’s part of what works so well for me. Even in a relationship steeped in rivalry or dry humor, I like to be able to see that sincerity at its core, and this is one of CLAMP’s greatest strengths. It also lends itself to some very touching moments, often with a serious tone.

Even in Tokyo Babylon, where the initially jokey relationship between 16-year-old Subaru and veterinarian Seishiro takes a decidedly dark turn, our hero’s feelings are very innocent and undeniably sincere.


Tokyo Babylon, Vol. 6 © 1992 CLAMP, English text @ 2005 TOKYOPOP

Which is not to say that CLAMP doesn’t ever go for the laugh.


xxxHolic, Vol. 6 © 2005 CLAMP, English edition published by Del Rey Manga

Oh, Watanuki and Doumeki… *sigh*. Probably my favorite of CLAMP’s subtextual BL couples, Watanuki and Doumeki spend most of their time visibly at odds, with Watanuki flailing in protest every time the two of them are paired up (which is often), and Doumeki making dry comments about Watanuki in the background. Much is made of their supernatural compatibility—Doumeki’s pure spirit is constantly necessary for keeping Watanuki safe, while Watanuki’s cooking provides Doumeki with nearly the only food pure-intentioned enough for him to enjoy eating. There’s also the fact that by halfway through the series, the two of them basically share both blood and an eye. It’s a CLAMP staple, of course, but man, it always works for me.

I’ve used this scene as an example before, but really nothing beats it for the perfect combination of prickly banter, dry humor, and undeniable personal intimacy. These characters know each other so well, and even though most of their outward behavior is designed to conceal that as thoroughly as possible, it still shines through, clear as day.

(click images to enlarge)



Perhaps the snarky nature of Watanuki and Doumeki’s BL-heavy relationship is due at least in part to xxxHolic‘s demographic (seinen), though they take a much different tack with the shounen-aimed series Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, in which the characters Fai and Kurogane—though beginning as fairly reluctant comrades—eventually develop a deep loyalty and warm friendship that reads very much like romantic love. I once referred to them as something like “the most obvious couple since Remus Lupin and Sirius Black,” but I think they may be even more obvious (or perhaps obvious to more people) than that.

Here’s another quote from my fannish journal when I first began reading Tsubasa: “Oh. Kurogane. If anyone tries to tell me that CLAMP does not ‘ship Fai/Kurogane, I will laugh harder than I have ever laughed in my life. I really will. They might as well put it on a billboard. Almost makes me wish it was a shoujo manga instead, but then there would probably be more flowers and fewer fights, and I admit I kind of like the fights.”

Having read a lot more shoujo manga since then—and particularly shoujo manga by CLAMP (*cough* X *cough*)—I’d have to take back my assertion that a shoujo version of Tsubasa would necessarily contain fewer fights, but I’d still bet money on CLAMP ‘shipping Fai/Kurogane, whether they’ve ever admitted it or not.

Though Tsubasa‘s shounen sensibility lends itself more toward heroic demonstrations of affection (Kurogane gives up his blood and an arm for Fai over the course of the series) than meaningful touches and stolen glances, it does have its moments.


Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Vol. 22 © 2008 CLAMP, English edition published by Del Rey Manga

For the record, Fai punches Kurogane on the next page (good-naturedly, of course), ’cause, y’know, that’s how they roll.

I’ve often wished that CLAMP would just go ahead and publish a BL manga—not because I’m dissatisfied with what they’ve already offered up in both canon and less-explicitly-canon male/male romance, but because I think they’d write it very well, and that they’d be likely to give me the kind of epic, plotty BL manga I so wish there were more of—in the English-language market anyway. In the meantime, I’ll take what I can get.

Readers, what are your favorite CLAMP BL pairings?

News from JManga, new manga on the shelves

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Lissa Pattillo takes a look at this week’s new manga releases in her latest On the Shelf column for Otaku USA. Sean Gaffney looks ahead to the best of next week at A Case Suitable for Treatment.

I reported on all the Viz manga news from San Diego at CBR, including the two new series in Shonen Jump Alpha, and the interrogation of the Japanese Shonen Jump editors.

Also at CBR: Kiel Phegley talks to F.J. DeSanto, who is co-writing the new adaptation of Cyborg 009.

Big doings at JManga this week: They have launched a blog, JManga Poi Poi, and they have also announced the judges and the manga for the Manga Translation Battle.

The Manga Moveable Feast continues with its focus on CLAMP; your hostess MJ rounds up the links for days 1, 2, and 3 at Manga Bookshelf and picks her three favorite CLAMP women as well. MJ, Michelle Smith, and Danielle Leigh devote their On the Shelf roundtable to Tokyo Babylon, and Kate Dacey picks Suki: A Like Story as The Best Manga You’re Not Reading at The Manga Critic. Check the Reviews section below for reviews of individual books.

Jason Thompson takes a look at the classic Hoshin Engi in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

At Manga Report, Anna lists the series she is looking forward to reading on JManga.

Kawaii Countdown: Molly McIsaac lists her picks for the the ten cutest comics and manga at iFanboy.com.

Tony Yao puts Shinji and Misato (of Neon Genesis Evangelion) on the couch at Manga Therapy.

Laura (from Heart of Manga) discusses how Maria Kawai, the Christian heroine of A Devil and Her Love Song, lives her faith.

Digital Manga has expanded into two new channels, DriveThru Comics and Graphicly, which will allow readers to buy and read manga via Facebook.

Matt Blind compiles his list of manga best-sellers for the week ending June 24.

Ash Brown is giving away a copy of the first Love Hina omnibus; hit the link for details.

News from Japan: Maoh: Juvenile Remix artist Megumi Osuga has a new series in the works, Vanilla Fiction, for Gessan (Monthly Shonen Sunday). Yuuki Obata (We Were There) is launching a new series, Forget Me Not, in Cookie magazine. Translator Tomo Kimura shows off the Japanese alternative cover for vol. 18 of Pandora Hearts. And ANN has the latest Japanese comics rankings.

Reviews

Connie on vol. 2 of Adekan (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Angel Para Bellum (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 12 of Bakuman (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 10 of Dengeki Daisy (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on Hatsukoi Kouzoushiki (Okazu)
Connie on Honey Colored Pancakes (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 6 of House of Five Leaves (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin on vol. 1 of Jiu Jiu (Comic Attack)
Laura on vols. 1-6 of Kobato (Heart of Manga)
Lori Henderson on vols. 5 and 6 of Kobato (Manga Village)
Anna on Legal Drug (Manga Report)
Ken Haley on vol. 1 of Mega Man Megamix (Sequential Ink)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 12 of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (The Fandom Post)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 35 of Negima! (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Connie on vol. 4 of Sailor Moon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 5 of Sunshine Sketch (Okazu)
Drew McCabe on the first chapter of Takara-Ga-Hama (Comic Attack)
Phillip Anthony on vol. 1 of X (Manga Bookshelf)

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: X, Vol. 1

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X, Vol. 1: 3-in-1 | By CLAMP | Published by VIZ Media | Rated: T, Ages 13+

CLAMP might be the first manga artists I became aware of back in the day. While Sailor Moon and its risable dub didn’t interest me, the dubbed version of Cardcaptor Sakura, or Cardcaptors as it was known, was interesting. Knowledge that was based on a Japanese manga sent me to the old MIXX edition of the book. So I knew they existed. A few years go by and I own smatterings of Legal Drug, xxxHolic, Tsubasa Chronicle, Magic Knight Rayearth and a few others. But strangely, it was the discovery of an anime version of one of CLAMP’s bigger properties that would start over ten years of frustration. The title? X.

X tells the story of Kamui, a young high school-going boy who returns to Tokyo after the violent death of his mother. Childhood friends, Fuma and Kotori, are of course delighted to see him again. However, things cannot be as they once were. Kamui seems to be pursued by people who want to possess him and his psychic powers. One one side, Princess Hinoto who only wants Kamui for noble purposes and on the other, Kanoe, her sister, who only wants Kamui for destructive reasons. Every physical conflict in the story is settled by psychic battles that take place inside barriers. No battle can damage the real world while it happens inside the barrier but once a combatant dies, the damage becomes real. Now the countdown is on to 1999 and the day of reckoning.

Wow, CLAMP’s serious stuff always reads like a 70’s disaster movie starring Cary Grant and Ava Gardner. It sounds goofy as anything but once into the nuts and bolts, it really has legs to run with. X, I’ve known about since watching the Rintaro-directed movie from the mid-90’s. And of course, the TV series from Yoshiaki Kawajiri, I’ve not seen but heard about. But you see, the most famous thing about one of CLAMP’s biggest titles is that it was never finished. The team just stopped working on it (for particulars, see the Wikpedia article on it) and have never gone back to it. I guess being successful means you don’t have to be consistent. The movie and the TV show had to craft their own endings so your milage will seriously vary. But the manga is good, I have to say. After reading about the books for a while, I picked up the VIZ omnibus edition of volume 1. I’ll try not to spoil the other versions too much for you.

Kamui might be the most annoying CLAMP creation I’ve seen. He’s the lead, the hero, the chosen one—but by God, he’s so confident in his own abilities, it borders on arrogance. He fights anyone at the drop of a pin, which since he’s a psychic warrior, means the bar repair bill is going to be high. He’s angry, moody and pushy. He’s haunted by his last night in Tokyo before he and his mother had to flee. It’s so hard to see into his character in this volume. I get the sense that the manga version of Kamui cares about his childhood friends and normal people but psychic fighters, he couldn’t care less about, like they are fair game since he’s the king of the junkyard dogs. This is inconsistent with his promise to his mother to live long enough to see the year 1999. He’s fighting anybody without regard for his safety. What does this mean? The authors aren’t saying. Kotori is a typical non-leading female character from CLAMP in that she’s a frail, fragile girl who just wishes, darn it, can’t we all just get along? She clearly has fuzzy feelings for Kamui but he’s shutting her out to protect her. Fuma, well, is a nice guy who loves his sister Kotori and tries to shield her from the childhood trauma of finding their mother butchered, together. He loves his friend Kamui and would never hurt him but he’s being pushed to choose whom to protect. I’m not talking about the rest of the characters because you should find out yourself.

I like the set up of this first volume. You get a sense that something is coming from Hinoto’s apocalyptic visions to the way in which Kanoe is moving and maneuvering her own players. Kamui knows, just knows, something bad is after him and he tries shutting out Fuma and Kotori to protect both of them from whatever it is that pursues him. There are unintended fights between him and Hinoto’s people but the real fight is yet to happen. Another thing is, and this is one of CLAMP’s major strengths, that all the cast get a chance to explain themselves to the audience, and in doing so engage in exposition. It’s a really interesting technique to observe. If anyone else did it, I’d roll my eyes but CLAMP always make it seem natural. Even the antagonists get a chance to do this. It’s doesn’t make them any nicer people but at least I understand their motivations a bit better now. Finally, there seems to be a conscious choice to set the fights during the night. Nothing bad really happens in the day and in this volume the daytime is associated with Kamui’s arrival in school, and public, for the first time when he arrives in Kotori’s field of vision out of a school window as if heaven sent. Interesting concept, since later in the day, Kamui tries to coldy dismiss Kotori (of course we know he’s trying to protect her). Dining on ashes at the end of the day, before the eternal night, perhaps?

Talking about a CLAMP book means talking about artwork and this work benefits from VIZ selecting a larger format book size. Every ink brush stroke, every pencil line is detailed and prominent, every character is clear. The work in here has an almost dream-like quality with long elegant lines and weird tilted camera angles. CLAMP aren’t really urban or technological artists, but when they do decide to do that type of work, it’s always refreshing to see it on display. Trying to pin down their technology style is a bit difficult. It’s one part Shirow Masamune, one part Michael Okuda, how’s that? And the character designs are, as always, varied and function oriented. Everyone looks like what they wear suits them.

I have never liked the anime ending to the X movie. But while I’m resigned to the fact that CLAMP might never finish their popular series, at least it looks good, is written smartly and has enough steam to see me through to X Omnibus vol.2. For newcomers to CLAMP, it’s a good place to start and a good book to own. For veterans, well. You’re already trapped in the hole, so keep going, huh?

To submit your contributions to the CLAMP MMF for inclusion in this month’s archive, please send your links by email to mj@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mjbeasi. If you would like your contribution(s) to be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, please email them to MJ, along with any included images.

The Best Manga You’re Not Reading: Suki

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The brilliant sociopath, the hooker with the heart of gold, and the naïf are my three least favorite character types, the first two for their tiresome ubiquity in popular culture, and the third for being tiresome: when was the last time you read a story about a sweet, innocent person that didn’t make you feel horribly manipulated or horribly jaded? Imagine my surprise, then, at discovering CLAMP’s delightfully odd series Suki: A Like Story, which revolves around a brilliant but impossibly naive teenager who trusts everyone, reads picture books, and talks to teddy bears. I thought I’d be tearing my breast in agony by the end of the first chapter; instead, I quickly succumbed to Suki‘s charms and even suppressed a sniffle or two in the final pages.

Suki succeeds, in large part, because the supporting cast has the same reaction to sixteen-year-old Hinata Asashi as the reader. Hina’s boundless enthusiasm endears her to best friends, Touko and Emi, though both roll their eyes at her inability to read social cues or grasp ulterior motives. Touko, in particular, is keen to protect her pal; as we learn in the second volume of the series, Hina has been kidnapped nine — count ’em — times over the course of her short life. (Hina’s dad is rich and willing to pay ransom for the safe return of his daughter.) Though an ordinary person might be deeply scarred by such experiences — or least more suspicious of strangers — Hina remains cheerful and oblivious to signs that a tenth abduction might be in the works.

Those signs include a string of odd coincidences: the long-vacant house next to Hina’s is suddenly occupied by a handsome young man who just happens to be Hina’s new homeroom teacher, Shiro Asou. Shiro just happens to be around whenever Hina is in need of an escort, or rescuing. And Shiro just happens to conduct clandestine meetings when the class goes on field trips. The ever-vigilant Touko quickly suspects the worst, but Hina interprets Shiro’s gruff yet solicitous behavior as concern, and develops a chaste crush on her sensei.

Watching Hina come to terms with her feelings is a painful but believable process. At first, she revels in any opportunity to spend time with Shiro, whether they’re raking leaves or walking home from school. Later, she begins to see parallels between their relationship and the relationship between two characters in a favorite picture-book series. (More on the series-within-a-series gambit in a minute.) In the final chapters of the book, Hina develops a more realistic idea of who Shiro is, eventually telling him how her feelings have evolved from youthful naivete to adult maturity. “At first, I fell in love with you because you did so many things I loved,” she confesses. “But from now on, Asou-san… whatever you do for yourself… I’ll love you for that.”

That Hina’s epiphany is facilitated, in part, by reading a children’s book may strike some readers as hopelessly twee. Suki — the name of the story-within-a-story — isn’t subtle; using bears as surrogates for Hina and Shiro, Suki charts the budding friendship between a small, chatty bear and her large, bespectacled neighbor. The parallels between the main plot and the story-within-the-story are obvious, but they serve an important purpose, reminding us that Hina is struggling to reconcile new, adult feelings with her decidedly child-like worldview.

Art-wise, Suki: A Like Story is one of CLAMP’s simplest — one might even say plainest — series. Tsubaki Nekoi’s style is much less Baroque than her cohorts’; she favors ordinary street clothes over epaulets and garter belts, and more realistic physiques over exaggerated shoulders and sharp chins. By shedding the fanciful trappings, Nekoi focuses the reader’s attention on faces, allowing us to fully register how each character is feeling. Nowhere is that more evident in the way Nekoi draws Touko. Touko is by far the most mature girl at Hina’s school, and the one most attuned to signs of adult malfeasance. Though Touko voices her concerns, the sadness in her face reveals a level of understanding that might be rooted in her own experiences, not just Hina’s:

Though Hina has a much more innocent personality than Touko, Nekoi resists the temptation to draw Hina as a child; Hina is clearly meant to be a teenager, given her size and athleticism. Hina’s transparent facial expressions, wide-eyed enthusiasm, and sudden, darting movements, however, hint at the discrepancy between her chronological and emotional ages; she bounces and skips and claps her way through the story, reacting with intense glee at even the briefest exchange with Shiro:

The art isn’t perfect by any means. Shiro’s proportions, for example, often look wrong: he has a tiny head and an enormous frame, and is so much taller than the other characters that he’d be NBA draft material in real life. Suki, the book-within-a-book, is also problematic. It’s quite possibly the dullest picture book I’ve read, a series of simple drawings accompanied by large, undifferentiated blocks of text. I certainly wasn’t expecting Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (or A Kiss for Little Bear), but the flat, unimaginative illustrations make it harder for the reader to imagine why someone Hina’s age would find the story so compelling:

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Suki is that Hina’s realistic coming-of-age story is embedded within a thriller. The suspenseful elements of Suki are handled with skill and restraint, even if they are a wee bit ridiculous. (OK, a lot ridiculous: who allows their frequently kidnapped sixteen-year-old daughter to live alone with her teddy bears?!) The few action scenes are brief but crisply executed, adding some much-needed variety in tone and pacing to the story. If the ending is a little too tidy, CLAMP avoids the trap of pandering to the reader’s expectations of what should happen; there’s a note of melancholy in that final scene, joyous though Hina may be.

Readers curious about Suki: A Like Story won’t have too much difficulty tracking down used copies on eBay or Amazon; the complete series will set you back about $20-30.

SUKI: A LIKE STORY, VOLS. 1-3 • BY CLAMP • TOKYOPOP • RATING: TEEN (13+)

The Best Manga You’re Not Reading: Suki

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The brilliant sociopath, the hooker with the heart of gold, and the naïf are my three least favorite character types, the first two for their tiresome ubiquity in popular culture, and the third for being tiresome: when was the last time you read a story about a sweet, innocent person that didn’t make you feel horribly manipulated or horribly jaded? Imagine my surprise, then, at discovering CLAMP’s delightfully odd series Suki: A Like Story, which revolves around a brilliant but impossibly naive teenager who trusts everyone, reads picture books, and talks to teddy bears. I thought I’d be tearing my breast in agony by the end of the first chapter; instead, I quickly succumbed to Suki‘s charms and even suppressed a sniffle or two in the final pages.

Suki succeeds, in large part, because the supporting cast has the same reaction to sixteen-year-old Hinata Asashi as the reader. Hina’s boundless enthusiasm endears her to best friends, Touko and Emi, though both roll their eyes at her inability to read social cues or grasp ulterior motives. Touko, in particular, is keen to protect her pal; as we learn in the second volume of the series, Hina has been kidnapped nine — count ’em — times over the course of her short life. (Hina’s dad is rich and willing to pay ransom for the safe return of his daughter.) Though an ordinary person might be deeply scarred by such experiences — or least more suspicious of strangers — Hina remains cheerful and oblivious to signs that a tenth abduction might be in the works.

Those signs include a string of odd coincidences: the long-vacant house next to Hina’s is suddenly occupied by a handsome young man who just happens to be Hina’s new homeroom teacher, Shiro Asou. Shiro just happens to be around whenever Hina is in need of an escort, or rescuing. And Shiro just happens to conduct clandestine meetings when the class goes on field trips. The ever-vigilant Touko quickly suspects the worst, but Hina interprets Shiro’s gruff yet solicitous behavior as concern, and develops a chaste crush on her sensei.

Watching Hina come to terms with her feelings is a painful but believable process. At first, she revels in any opportunity to spend time with Shiro, whether they’re raking leaves or walking home from school. Later, she begins to see parallels between their relationship and the relationship between two characters in a favorite picture-book series. (More on the series-within-a-series gambit in a minute.) In the final chapters of the book, Hina develops a more realistic idea of who Shiro is, eventually telling him how her feelings have evolved from youthful naivete to adult maturity. “At first, I fell in love with you because you did so many things I loved,” she confesses. “But from now on, Asou-san… whatever you do for yourself… I’ll love you for that.”

That Hina’s epiphany is facilitated, in part, by reading a children’s book may strike some readers as hopelessly twee. Suki — the name of the story-within-a-story — isn’t subtle; using bears as surrogates for Hina and Shiro, Suki charts the budding friendship between a small, chatty bear and her large, bespectacled neighbor. The parallels between the main plot and the story-within-the-story are obvious, but they serve an important purpose, reminding us that Hina is struggling to reconcile new, adult feelings with her decidedly child-like worldview.

Art-wise, Suki: A Like Story is one of CLAMP’s simplest — one might even say plainest — series. Tsubaki Nekoi’s style is much less Baroque than her cohorts’; she favors ordinary street clothes over epaulets and garter belts, and more realistic physiques over exaggerated shoulders and sharp chins. By shedding the fanciful trappings, Nekoi focuses the reader’s attention on faces, allowing us to fully register how each character is feeling. Nowhere is that more evident in the way Nekoi draws Touko. Touko is by far the most mature girl at Hina’s school, and the one most attuned to signs of adult malfeasance. Though Touko voices her concerns, the sadness in her face reveals a level of understanding that might be rooted in her own experiences, not just Hina’s:

Though Hina has a much more innocent personality than Touko, Nekoi resists the temptation to draw Hina as a child; Hina is clearly meant to be a teenager, given her size and athleticism. Hina’s transparent facial expressions, wide-eyed enthusiasm, and sudden, darting movements, however, hint at the discrepancy between her chronological and emotional ages; she bounces and skips and claps her way through the story, reacting with intense glee at even the briefest exchange with Shiro:

The art isn’t perfect by any means. Shiro’s proportions, for example, often look wrong: he has a tiny head and an enormous frame, and is so much taller than the other characters that he’d be NBA draft material in real life. Suki, the book-within-a-book, is also problematic. It’s quite possibly the dullest picture book I’ve read, a series of simple drawings accompanied by large, undifferentiated blocks of text. I certainly wasn’t expecting Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (or A Kiss for Little Bear), but the flat, unimaginative illustrations make it harder for the reader to imagine why someone Hina’s age would find the story so compelling:

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Suki is that Hina’s realistic coming-of-age story is embedded within a thriller. The suspenseful elements of Suki are handled with skill and restraint, even if they are a wee bit ridiculous. (OK, a lot ridiculous: who allows their frequently kidnapped sixteen-year-old daughter to live alone with her teddy bears?!) The few action scenes are brief but crisply executed, adding some much-needed variety in tone and pacing to the story. If the ending is a little too tidy, CLAMP avoids the trap of pandering to the reader’s expectations of what should happen; there’s a note of melancholy in that final scene, joyous though Hina may be.

Readers curious about Suki: A Like Story won’t have too much difficulty tracking down used copies on eBay or Amazon; the complete series will set you back about $20-30.

SUKI: A LIKE STORY, VOLS. 1-3 • BY CLAMP • TOKYOPOP • RATING: TEEN (13+)

CLAMP MMF Links: Day 3

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Here is your roundup of links for Day 3 of the CLAMP Manga Moveable Feast!

From your host: In a special edition of Off the Shelf, Michelle and I are joined by our NANA Project collaborator, Danielle Leigh, for an epic discussion of my favorite CLAMP series, Tokyo Babylon. Come join in the discussion!

At Contemporary Japanese Literature, Kathryn Hemmann offers us a thoughtful essay on Purity and Power in Magic Knight Rayearth.

“Just as female fans of Sailor Moon are able to find messages of feminist empowerment in the series instead of polymorphously perverse possibilities for sexual titillation, female creators like CLAMP are able to stage feminist critiques of real-world sexual economies of desire within their application of gendered narrative tropes. Therefore, when cultural theorists such as Saitō Tamaki discuss otaku immersing themselves in fantasies that have nothing to do with the real world, they acknowledge shōjo series like Sailor Moon and Magic Knight Rayearth but completely fail to take into account the female viewers, readers, and creators for whom fictional female characters are not entirely removed from reality.”

Over at the Organization Anti-Social Geniuses, LCMoran names CLAMP the site’s Creator of the Month.

And at Manga Village, Lori Henderson takes a look at volumes five and six of Kobato.

That’s all the links for Wednesday! Stay tuned as the Feast continues!

To submit your contributions to the CLAMP MMF for inclusion in this month’s archive, please send your links by email to mj@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mjbeasi. If you would like your contribution(s) to be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, please email them to MJ, along with any included images.

3 Things Thursday: Favorite CLAMP Women

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It has been a while, but welcome back to 3 Things Thursday! As you know, this week is the CLAMP Manga Moveable Feast. CLAMP has written a lot of terrific female characters, like Sakura, Yuuko, Hikaru, and the list goes on. I’ve always gravitated towards supporting characters, though, especially when they’re as awesome as some of CLAMP’s. And so, this Thursday, let’s talk about my…

3 Favorite CLAMP Women

1. Hokuto, Tokyo Babylon – I already went on and on about Hokuto in yesterday’s roundtable, but really I could talk about her all day. While she’s pretty great in her capacity as “Subaru’s twin sister,” she’s even better on her own, and I’m thrilled that CLAMP decided to break away from the manga’s primary thread long enough to let us see that. Volume two’s final chapter, in which Hokuto steps in to rescue another woman from her male pursuers, is one of my favorite moments in the entire series. She’s like a superhero in this scene, and it’s impossible not to fall in love with her.

(click images to enlarge)

2. Himawari, xxxHolic – One of the characters who seems to get the least love from fans in xxxHolic is Himawari, Watanuki and Doumeki’s schoolmate who was born with the unfortunate characteristic of bringing bad luck to the people around her. But Watanuki adores Himawari, and so do I. I love her understated insights, her sweet good nature, and the smile that covers up her loneliness. This scene in which Watanuki finally realizes what’s really going on with Himawari is a favorite of mine, partly because of Watanuki being who he is, but also because of Himawari’s cheerful acceptance of what she is certain must be the end of their friendship.

3. Tomoyo, Carcaptor Sakura – Oh, Tomoyo, Tomoyo… if Cardcapter Sakura is the absolute dearest of all dear things in the world, Tomoyo is even dearer. Her complete devotion to Sakura is adorable of course—Tomoyo is a true friend—but it’s more than that. She’s a completely original little person, and it’s just a joy to watch her exist. She’s as dear as can be here, but I think my favorite moment is in the last panel, when she greats the fairly terrifying true form of Cerberus with, “Have we met?”

So, readers… who are your favorite CLAMP women?

To submit your contributions to the CLAMP MMF for inclusion in this month’s archive, please send your links by email to mj@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mjbeasi. If you would like your contribution(s) to be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, please email them to MJ, along with any included images.

Manga the Week of 8/1

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It’s August 1st! Or, as Diamond likes to call it, July 32nd! In other words, expect another lean week for comic shops.

Dark Horse, which has been fairly quiet as of late, comes out with not one but two new titles! Vol. 25 of the perennial classic Blade of the Immortal, which not only features snow, but also dawn. Two separate things that make for great manga. There’s also Vol. 2 of Drifters, Hirano’s attempt to follow up on Hellsing. Those watching the current anime season will be saddened that, though this manga features Oda Nobunaga, he is not a cute young girl.

Sure it came out everywhere else two weeks ago, but Diamond is above such petty things as street dates! Vertical, however, is merely content with getting you some quality Moyoco Anno manga. This one in particular is a period piece examining a young woman’s rise as an Oiran, and how that’s not really as heartwarming and empowering as it may sound. It’s fantastic reading.

Lastly, and with perfect timing, we have some X hitting shops just in time to miss the Manga Moveable Feast. Vol. 3 of the omnibus contains the original Vols. 7-9, and things get even more apocalyptic. Well, I imagine they do, things got entirely too depressing for me around this point. But more on that tomorrow…

Another small week, but it’s got some quality. What appeals to you?

Manga Bestsellers: 2012, Week Ending 24 June

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Comparative Rankings Based on Consolidated Online Sales

last week’s charts
about the charts

##

Manga Bestsellers

1. ↔0 (1) : Sailor Moon 4 – Kodansha Comics, Mar 2012 [418.8] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Sailor Moon 3 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2012 [406.5] ::
3. ↑5 (8) : Sailor Moon 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [405.0] ::
4. ↔0 (4) : Sailor Moon 2 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [400.3] ::
5. ↓-2 (3) : Ouran High School Host Club 18 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jun 2012 [395.0] ::
6. ↑4 (10) : Bleach 40 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2012 [340.4] ::
7. ↔0 (7) : Black Bird 14 – Viz Shojo Beat, May 2012 [335.0] ::
8. ↑1 (9) : Naruto 56 – Viz Shonen Jump, May 2012 [334.0] ::
9. ↓-3 (6) : Death Note vols 1-13 box set – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Oct 2008 [327.7] ::
10. ↓-5 (5) : Sailor Moon 5 – Kodansha Comics, Apr 2012 [319.5] ::

[more]

Top Imprints
Number of volumes ranking in the Top 500:

Viz Shonen Jump 83
Tokyopop 75
Yen Press 74
Viz Shojo Beat 60
Kodansha Comics 44
Viz Shonen Jump Advanced 38
Dark Horse 19
DMP Juné 16
Seven Seas 14
Vizkids 11

[more]

Series/Property

1. ↔0 (1) : Sailor Moon – Kodansha Comics [1,099.6] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Naruto – Viz Shonen Jump [789.5] ::
3. ↔0 (3) : Bleach – Viz Shonen Jump [743.7] ::
4. ↔0 (4) : Ouran High School Host Club – Viz Shojo Beat [630.2] ::
5. ↑2 (7) : Highschool of the Dead – Yen Press [480.7] ::
6. ↓-1 (5) : Death Note – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced [477.4] ::
7. ↓-1 (6) : Black Bird – Viz Shojo Beat [476.8] ::
8. ↔0 (8) : Negima! – Del Rey/Kodansha Comics [449.9] ::
9. ↑1 (10) : Pandora Hearts – Yen Press [426.4] ::
10. ↑4 (14) : Avatar: The Last Airbender – [multiple publishers] [418.9] ::

[more]

New Releases
(Titles releasing/released This Month & Last)

5. ↓-2 (3) : Ouran High School Host Club 18 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jun 2012 [395.0] ::
6. ↑4 (10) : Bleach 40 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2012 [340.4] ::
7. ↔0 (7) : Black Bird 14 – Viz Shojo Beat, May 2012 [335.0] ::
8. ↑1 (9) : Naruto 56 – Viz Shonen Jump, May 2012 [334.0] ::
12. ↓-1 (11) : Dance in the Vampire Bund 12 – Seven Seas, Jun 2012 [287.4] ::
13. ↑2 (15) : Sailor Moon 6 – Kodansha Comics, Jun 2012 [285.0] ::
15. ↑7 (22) : Bleach 41 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2012 [272.4] ::
23. ↑1 (24) : Pandora Hearts 10 – Yen Press, May 2012 [236.7] ::
26. ↔0 (26) : Bakuman 11 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2012 [224.8] ::
29. ↓-4 (25) : Soul Eater 9 – Yen Press, May 2012 [205.4] ::

[more]

Preorders

11. ↑1 (12) : Sailor Moon 9 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2013 [287.5] ::
16. ↑1 (17) : Sailor Moon 8 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2012 [260.5] ::
19. ↔0 (19) : Sailor Moon 7 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2012 [256.2] ::
22. ↑7 (29) : Finder Series 6 Passion within the View Finder – DMP Juné, Jul 2012 [240.5] ::
27. ↑6 (33) : Naruto 57 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2012 [216.1] ::
35. ↑39 (74) : Avatar: The Last Airbender The Promise 3 – Dark Horse, Oct 2012 [182.8] ::
38. ↓-2 (36) : Black Butler 9 – Yen Press, Jul 2012 [173.5] ::
42. ↑2 (44) : Negima! 35 – Kodansha Comics, Jul 2012 [166.3] ::
56. ↑17 (73) : Vampire Knight 14 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jul 2012 [138.1] ::
59. ↓-12 (47) : Velvet Kiss 1 – Project H, Jul 2012 [135.6] ::

[more]

Manhwa

129. ↓-26 (103) : Bride of the Water God 11 – Dark Horse, May 2012 [82.9] ::
396. ↓-96 (300) : Bride of the Water God 9 – Dark Horse, Oct 2011 [29.5] ::
494. ↓-69 (425) : Bride of the Water God 10 – Dark Horse, Jan 2012 [22.8] ::
815. ↓-473 (342) : Priest Purgatory 1 – Tokyopop, Aug 2010 [8.8] ::
907. ↓-67 (840) : Toxic (anthology) 1 – Udon, Jul 2012 [6.8] ::
1161. ↑131 (1292) : Ragnarok 1 – Tokyopop, May 2002 [3.0] ::
1317. ↑186 (1503) : Black God 16 – Yen Press, Apr 2012 [1.7] ::
1388. ↓-108 (1280) : JTF-3 Counter Ops – RealinterfaceStudios.com, Mar 2011 [1.2] ::
1454. ↓-49 (1405) : Bride of the Water God 8 – Dark Horse, May 2011 [0.9] ::
1469. ↓-80 (1389) : INVU 5 – Tokyopop, Nov 2009 [0.8] ::

[more]

BL/Yaoi

22. ↑7 (29) : Finder Series 6 Passion within the View Finder – DMP Juné, Jul 2012 [240.5] ::
76. ↓-1 (75) : The Tyrant Falls in Love 6 – DMP Juné, May 2012 [113.3] ::
77. ↑48 (125) : Samejima-Kun & Sasahara-Kun – DMP Juné, May 2012 [113.1] ::
81. ↓-13 (68) : Only the Ring Finger Knows (novel) 5 – DMP Juné, Sep 2012 [111.9] ::
101. ↓-8 (93) : Ai no Kusabi (novel) 7 – DMP Juné, Sep 2012 [98.6] ::
117. ↓-9 (108) : Private Teacher 3 – DMP Juné, May 2012 [88.1] ::
140. ↑42 (182) : Vassalord 4 – Tokyopop, Nov 2010 [78.0] ::
142. ↑2 (144) : Silver Diamond 8 – Tokyopop, Dec 2010 [77.9] ::
164. ↓-22 (142) : In These Words – 801 Media, Jun 2012 [71.6] ::
170. ↓-40 (130) : Finder Series 5 Truth in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Dec 2011 [68.8] ::

[more]

Ebooks

8. ↑1 (9) : Naruto 56 – Viz Shonen Jump, May 2012 [334.0] ::
17. ↑1 (18) : Naruto 55 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2012 [259.4] ::
18. ↑3 (21) : Maximum Ride 5 – Yen Press, Dec 2011 [259.2] ::
27. ↑6 (33) : Naruto 57 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2012 [216.1] ::
32. ↓-1 (31) : Naruto 54 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2012 [188.2] ::
39. ↔0 (39) : Blue Exorcist 1 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Apr 2011 [170.1] ::
45. ↓-4 (41) : Naruto 53 – Viz Shonen Jump, Dec 2011 [161.6] ::
60. ↓-17 (43) : Haruhi Suzumiya Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 12 – Yen Press, May 2012 [131.8] ::
70. ↓-5 (65) : Bleach 37 – Viz Shonen Jump, Dec 2011 [121.7] ::
71. ↓-21 (50) : Naruto 52 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2011 [120.9] ::

[more]

CLAMP MMF Links: Day 2

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Here is your roundup of links for Day 2 of the CLAMP Manga Moveable Feast!

From your host: I take some time to explain Why you should read Cardcaptor Sakura, including lots of pretty images and general sighing.

At The Manga Critic, Kate favors us with her 5 Favorite CLAMP Manga, including titles like X, Clover, and Shirahime-Syo: Snow Goddess Tales.

“Shirahime-Syo: Snow Goddess Tales is testament to CLAMP’s Borg-like ability assimilate any genre or artistic style and make it into their own. The three stories that comprise this slim volume are folkloric in tone and subject-matter, but expressed in a visual language that’s a beautiful synthesis of shojo manga and ukiyo print-making; the characters — with their pointy chins and artfully tousled hair — inhabit stark landscapes reminiscent of the Kishi and Shijo schools.”

Over at Heart of Manga, Laura reminisces about the first CLAMP manga she ever read, in Memorable Manga Moment: Chobits vol. 1.

Yesterday in reviews, Lori Henderson gives the first volume of Gate 7 a try at Manga Xanadu, Ayame spends some time with Tokyo Babylon at The Beautiful World, and Lexie (a girl after my own heart) takes a look at Cardcaptor Sakura at Poisoned Rationality.

That’s all the links for Tuesday! Stay tuned as the Feast continues!

To submit your contributions to the CLAMP MMF for inclusion in this month’s archive, please send your links by email to mj@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mjbeasi. If you would like your contribution(s) to be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, please email them to MJ, along with any included images.